Summer is here, which means it will soon be time to hit the beach. Every beachgoer knows the importance of sun block, but are all sunscreens the same? Your sunscreen may protect against sunburn, but not all sunscreens provide equal protection from the UVA rays that cause skin to age.

Comparing Apples to Oranges: UVA&UVB Rays

According to The Skin Cancer Foundation, long-wave UVA rays make up about 95 percent of the UV rays that hit Earth. These rays aren’t as intense, but there are 30-50 times more of them, and they’re present year-round in all daylight conditions. UVA rays have deeper penetration, too, and can cause wrinkles, aging, and skin cancer.

Although the effects of UVB rays are more superficial, they can cause serious damage to the epidermis. These rays are responsible for skin reddening and those nasty sunburns you get at the beach. UVB damage is more visible, and can also lead to skin cancer.

SPF: Get to Know Your Sunscreen

“For sunscreen to be really effective in preventing skin cancer, it has to provide broad-spectrum coverage,” Dr. Henry Lim, chairman of dermatology at Henry Ford Hospital, told MSNBC. “The U.S. is the only country with no guidelines for UVA protection, so consumers here have no way of knowing.”

One common misconception about a sunblock’s sun protection factor (SPF) is that the numbers—15, 30, and clear up to 100—indicate the level of protection. In actuality, it represents the amount of time a person can be exposed before the skin starts to redden. Dr. James Spencer, a St. Petersburg, Florida, dermatologist explains:

“SPF is very misleading,” he told MSNBC. “If I were a logical consumer, I would think that SPF 30 is twice as good as SPF 15. But SPF 15 blocks 94 percent of UVB rays. SPF 30 blocks 97 percent. Past 30, there isn’t much additional benefit to be had.”

Where to go from here:

The best thing you can do for your skin is to protect against both UVA and UVB rays.   Seek shade during peek daylight hours (10 am to 2 pm), wear clothing that will cover or protect the skin, and find a sunscreen that has ingredients that protect against both UVA and UVB rays. These ingredients include dioxybenzone, ecamsule, oxybenzone, titanium dioxide and zinc oxide.

Read more about UV rays at MSNBC.com, or contact the FDA about establishing guidelines for UVA protection.

When it comes to finding the perfect person, forget asking the standard ‘What’s your dream date?’ questions. Now it may be practical to ask which terminal illness he or she has. Prescription4Love.com, a new dating site has been doing just that.

Ricky Durham created the site in 2004 in honor of his brother, Keith. The site is geared to match people with special health needs to others with similar conditions. Whether this search is for friendship or something more is entirely up to the user.

Ricky’s brother Keith had Crohn’s Disease, a form of irritable bowel disorder. It could make meeting people for the first time awkward. That’s when Ricky came up with the idea for Prescription 4 Love.

“Deciding when to tell someone you have a colostomy bag is incredibly difficult,” Durham explains. “I thought if Keith had a chance to meet someone with a similar condition, there would be no need to have to disclose anything.”

Prescription 4 Love is set up like most other online dating sites. Users can create their own profiles, browse through the forums, and chat with each other in an open environment without a hidden medical history. Durham’s recently added instant messaging, blogging and virtual gifts to the mix.

Durham’s site began with a focus on just 11 chronic illnesses, but has expanded to include more than 30. Prescription4Love welcomes anyone from amputees to recovering alcoholics, people with diabetes or heart disease, people who have or have had cancer to little people. Durham has even added STDs to the list. In fact, HIV and herpes are among his most popular groups.

“One lady in particular called me who had cancer said that whenever she told the person she was dating she had cancer they stopped dating her within a matter of days,” he says. Now she can find acceptance in a community where everyone can relate in one way or another.

As of now more than 8,000 people have used the site, and although Keith passed away before the site was fully developed, he is still very much the driving force behind Ricky’s work.

“Keith is the inspiration behind everything that I do for Prescription4Love,” he says. “I have had phone calls and emails from different people thanking me for stating such a web site…the response has been great.”

Cancer and Alzheimer’s appear to be inversely related. That is, people who have had cancer have a decreased risk of developing Alzheimer’s, and vice versa.

The purpose of the study, which appears in Neurology, was to discover whether or not cancer was linked with Alzheimer’s and types of vascular dementia, such as Parkinson’s disease. There was no significant relationship between Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia, but they were able to link cancer and Alzheimer’s disease.

Researchers made adjustments for factors such as smoking, obesity, and physical activity. They also adjusted for hypertension, diabetes, and coronary heart disease. Researchers monitored 3,020 people, age 65 or older, for dementia and cancer, for roughly five and eight years respectively.

“Prevalent cancer was associated with reduced risk of any Alzheimer's disease and pure Alzheimer's disease among white subjects after adjustment for demographics,” authors wrote. “The opposite association was found among minorities, but the sample size was too small to provide stable estimates.”

White participants who’d had cancer before or at the beginning of the study were 43 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease. In turn, those with Alzheimer’s had a 69 percent decreased risk of developing cancer.

Despite not finding a direct link between Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia, the study does provide implications on its relationship to cancer.

“Together with other work showing associations between cancer and Parkinson disease, these findings suggest the possibility that cancer is linked to neurodegeneration,” authors concluded.

View the study’s abstract in the online version of Neurology.

Women should be aware that all cancers detected during breast cancer screenings are not necessarily lethal. More intensive screening tends to reveal even cancers that may lie dormant or cause no harm. A recent study in the British Medical Journal shows that nearly 52% of mammograms in areas offering organized screening are over-diagnosed, with one in three overdiagnosed overall. The danger lies in the health problems that may result from unnecessary treatment (such as chemotherapy, radiation or surgery).
A mammogram uses x-rays to detect masses in the breast tissue, allowing doctors to detect breast cancer in its early stages when it’s most likely to be cured. Women over the age of forty are encouraged to get a mammogram every 1-2 years. Although a mammogram is beneficial when lethal cancers are detected, it may be harmful when perceiving those that are not.

It is estimated that one in three breast cancer mammography screenings are overdiagnosed. Overdiagnosis occurs when the patient dies before cancer complications occur, whether it's because the cancer grows too slowly or simply remains dormant.

Because it is impossible to discriminate between types of cancers that will not cause death or symptoms and those that will, all types of cancer are treated. In fact, 37% of women age 40-54 who died from causes other than breast cancer had invasive or non-invasive cancer legions at autopsy, half of which were visible on radiography.

Researcher Karl Julh Jørgensen, co-author and researcher of the study, wrote “The increase in incidence of breast cancer was closely related to the introduction of screening and little of this was compensated for by a drop in incidence of breast cancer in previously screened women.”

Jørgensen, along with director Peter C Gøtzsche, both of The Nordic Cochrane Center in Copenhagen, Denmark, gathered information for the review by compiling several studies from Norway, Sweden, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom, using data seven years prior to screening and seven years after.

Researchers obtained information from women too young to be screened to use as a control. This information was compared with pre-screening trends of the screened group to establish a background incidence.

The rate of diagnosis for women younger than 50 and greater than 74 remained constant, but when the post-screening trend in women age 50-69 was examined, breast cancer diagnosis was almost 42% higher than expected.  This was followed by a 15% decline in diagnosis for women over the age of 70. Over-diagnosis for breast cancer alone was 35%, which jumped to 52% when carcinoma in situ (at its original site) was included.

Although factors such as the use of hormone replacement therapy (associated with an increased risk of breast cancer) and incidence of ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) may play a factor in the statistics, researchers still attribute much of this change in diagnosis to organized and more frequent screening.

Other deviations due to the nature of different types of cancer must still be accounted for, but the study’s findings do stress taking precautions in breast cancer screening.

Digital mammography readings, for example, in lieu of traditional mammograms (that tend to detect a higher rate of false positives due to poorer image quality) may be the best procedure, but knowing the facts about breast cancer’s risks can help prevent complications as a result of overdiagnosis.

Visit our Breast Cancer Community.

Bill Rodgers, the former top-ranked marathon runner in the world, is running next Monday’s 113th Boston Marathon to promote prostate cancer awareness at the age of 61. A four-time winner of the Boston Marathon, Rodgers will be helping Athletes for a Cure, a program of the Prostate Cancer Foundation, to raise funds for and build awareness of prostate cancer.

Rodgers was diagnosed with prostate cancer last year. “There was no indication of any problem before I was diagnosed,” said Rodgers in a press release. “I’ve always tried to watch my health. Being so physically active, I was completely shocked to learn I had prostate cancer. I was also surprised to find out one out of six American men will also be in this same situation sometime in their lives. Prostate cancer is just that prevalent.”

Risk factors for prostate cancer include being 50 years of age or older; being of African heritage; having a brother, son, or father who had prostate cancer; and eating a high fat diet or drinking alcohol.

The American Cancer Society does not recommend routine prostate cancer screening for all men but recommends that health care professionals “offer testing with the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test and digital rectal exam (DRE) yearly, beginning at age 50, to men who are at average risk of prostate cancer and have at least a 10-year life expectancy.” They also recommend that screening be considered at 40 or 45 if the person has high risk factors such as being of African American heritage and having a family history of prostate cancer at an early age.

The Boston Marathon is the world's oldest annual marathon and one of the most prestigious races. In 2008 nearly 22,000 runners completed the course.

For more information, see Healia’s resources about prostate cancer prevention and screening, and cancer organizations and healthcare providers. Or get online support from our online community for prostate cancer.


_{Photo: Paul Keleher, Flickr, Creative Commons}

A novel prostate cancer vaccine may become the first approved cancer treatment vaccine in the United States. The Seattle-based biotechnology company Dendreon announced today that their treatment vaccine called Provenge “significantly prolongs survival in men with advanced prostate cancer.” A clinical trial of 512 men with metastatic prostate cancer showed that the vaccine significantly improved the odds of survival from prostate cancer compared to a placebo.

Provenge is a therapeutic or treatment vaccine, where a drug stimulates the patient’s own immune system to fight prostate cancer cells. The drug is produced from a patient's own cells and is used when testosterone hormone blockers are no longer effective. Therapeutic vaccines do not prevent disease like traditional vaccines do but rather they stimulate the patient’s own immune system to attack cancer cells after they have already developed.

If approved later this year, Provenge could be first cancer treatment vaccine in the United States. Two years ago, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) declined to approve the drug at that time and elected to wait for the results of the clinical trial that were briefly described today. The full clinical trials results will be presented at the annual meeting of the American Urological Association on April 28th in Chicago.

Cancer vaccines can be used to prevent cancer or to treat cancer. To date, the FDA has approved two vaccines that prevent cancer--a vaccine against the hepatitis B virus that causes liver cancer and a vaccine against human papillomavirus, which accounts for most cases of cervical cancer. If approved by the FDA, Provenge could be the first approved cancer treatment vaccine.

Many scientists believe that cancer treatment vaccines are a much more precise and less dangerous method to treat cancer compared to traditional chemotherapy where massive doses of potentially toxic drugs are used.

Learn more about the prevention and treatment of prostate cancer at Healia or ask our health professionals or medical students a question about prostate cancer.


_{Photo: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, public domain}

Scientists have developed a new test that can be used to detect cancers and monitor the progress of cancer treatments by using a tiny drop of blood or speck of tissue smaller than the period at the end of this sentence. Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine described their novel technique in a paper published yesterday in Nature Medicine.

The technique, nanofluidic proteomic immunoassay or NIA, uses special laboratory equipment and reagents to differentiate cancer types by analyzing the levels of various cancer-specific proteins in the sample. Variations in the way cancer-related proteins are modified, or phosphorylated, can impact tumor progression.

The researchers hope that the new technique will allow cancers to be detected and cancer treatments to be assessed without the need for invasive surgical biopsies. “Surgical biopsies usually require general anesthesia and large amounts of tissue,” said the lead author, oncologist Alice Fan, MD. “If we can figure out how to go in with a needle and remove just a few cells for analysis, we could repeatedly assess how the tumor is responding to treatment.”

Currently, the gold standard for evaluating the effectiveness of many cancer treatments is to monitor shrinking of the tumor. With nanofluidic proteomic immunoassay, researchers see a promising way to determine treatment success much earlier on the cellular level.

The research group showed that their technique was effective in samples of blood cancers and are now applying their test to head and neck tumors. However, this research is still in its early stages and the widespread availability of this test is uncertain. The study was supported by the National Cancer Institute and other cancer organizations.

Go to Healia for more information about cancer diagnosis and treatment, test your knowledge about cancer, find cancer organizations and healthcare providers, or to ask a question about cancer.


_{Photo: Bethany L King, Flickr, Creative Commons}

A Presidential proclamation has designated April as National Cancer Control Month and the public is urged to adopt healthy habits to reduce the risk of cancer. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) estimates that 1,437,180 new cases of cancer will occur and 565,650 people will die of cancer in the United States in 2008.

The good news is that there has been significant progress in America’s battle with cancer in the last decade. In NCI’s latest Annual Report to the Nation on the Status of Cancer, published in November 2008, overall cancer incidence rates decreased 0.8 percent per year from 1999 through 2005. And death rates for all cancers dropped among all racial and ethnic groups and in men and women, except for American Indian/Alaska Native people. Cancer death rates declined for 10 of the top 15 types of cancer. The NCI report also noted that the overall decrease in cancer incidence and death rates was mainly a result of declines in lung, colon/rectum, and prostate cancers among men, decreases of breast cancer and colon/rectum cancers among women, and a leveling off of lung cancer deaths among women.

As part of their cancer awareness efforts, the NCI has provided four personal recommendations for cancer prevention and control:

Quit smoking
If you smoke, quitting smoking is probably the most important thing you can do to reduce your risk of cancer and other serious diseases.  Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. Smoking also increases the risk of many other types of cancer, such as cancer of the throat, mouth, pancreas, kidney, bladder, and cervix.

Talk with your doctor about cancer screening
Regular screening for cancer reduces the risk of developing certain cancers and helps detect cancer in its early and most treatable stages. Ask your doctor or other healthcare professional about what cancer screening tests are appropriate for your gender, age, and personal profile. Studies have shown that most Americans know about common screening tests for cancer such as mammograms, Pap smears, and colonoscopies, but few know when they should be conducted.

Improve your diet
Eating a well-balanced healthy diet may reduce your risk of developing cancer and other serious illnesses. A healthy diet includes fruits and vegetables, whole grains, fat-free or low-fat dairy products, lean meats, fish, beans, eggs, and nuts. But a healthy diet also avoids foods that are low in overall nutrients (such as candy and soda pop) and limits the intake of Trans and saturated fats, cholesterol, sodium, and may also limits intake of foods with a high glycemic index.

Increase physical activity
Regular physical activity can help reduce your risk of colon, breast, and other cancers. Studies have also shown a link between regular physical activity and reduced risk of prostate, lung, and endometrial cancer. Regular physical activity can also improve your health by helping with weight control; promoting emotional well-being; and reducing the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes.

To support National Cancer Control Month, Healia has recently made several cancer information resources from NCI available, including cancer information summaries, and directories of cancer organizations and cancer healthcare providers. Other cancer-related information sources include health guides, health quizzes, and cancer-related communities.


_{Photo: TBG, Flickr, Creative Commons}

A DNA test for the human papillomavirus (HPV), the leading risk factor for cervical cancer, is better than the Pap smear and other screening methods at preventing cervical cancer according to a new study.

The multi-year study of 131,746 women in India, published in last week's New England Journal of Medicine, showed that a single round of HPV DNA testing was more effective than other screening methods at preventing cervical cancer and related deaths. 

Health experts believe that the widespread introduction of the DNA test for HPV could result in the elimination or reduction of use of the Pap smear, the gold standard for cervical cancer detection in the United States. With the Pap smear, cells from the cervix are collected by a clinician and sent to a laboratory where they are examined for cellular abnormalities. In contrast, the DNA screening test also uses cervical cells but results are read by a machine and not as prone to subjective assessment.

HPV is the most common STD in the United States with more than half of all sexually active women and men becoming infected at some point in their lives. Although most women with cervical cancer are infected with HPV, not all women with HPV will develop cervical cancer as only certain types of HPV cause abnormal cells to develop.

A spokesman for the National Cancer Institute has urged medical professionals to adopt HPV DNA testing. Hurdles to adoption of the DNA test include hesitation by gynecologists and other primary care doctors to do away with Pap smears, which have been credited with dramatically reducing the rate of cervical cancer deaths in the United States.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists currently does not recommend the HPV DNA test for women younger than 30.  For women over 30, the organization suggests that women get an HPV DNA test at the same time as a Pap smear.

Read more about HPV and cervical cancer screening or submit a question to our medical students or health professionals.


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According to various press reports, Farrah Fawcett, the former "Charlie's Angels" star, has been hospitalized for complications related to her ongoing treatment for anal cancer. Her public battle with anal cancer and commensurate media coverage of the actress provide an opportunity to educate the public about this relatively rare cancer. Because of its anatomical location and its risk factors, many people are uncomfortable talking about anal cancer.

Farrah Fawcett has been fighting anal cancer since 2006 and the cancer has apparently spread to her liver. However, contrary to initial news reports, she is not terminally ill at this time and is expected to be discharged in a few days.

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) estimates that there were 5,070 new cases of anal cancer in the United States in 2008 with 680 deaths. According to the NCI, the main risk factors for developing anal cancer are:

• Being over 50 years old.
• Being infected with human papillomavirus (HPV).
• Having many sexual partners.
• Having receptive anal intercourse (anal sex).
• Frequent anal redness, swelling, and soreness.
• Having anal fistulas (abnormal openings).
• Smoking cigarettes.

Possible signs and symptoms of anal cancer include:

• Bleeding from the anus or rectum.
• Pain or pressure in the area around the anus.
• Itching or discharge from the anus.
• A lump near the anus.
• A change in bowel habits.

Other diseases can cause similar signs and symptoms but you should contact your doctor if you experience these problems. The odds of survival from anal cancer depend mainly on the stage of the cancer at the time of diagnosis. Anal cancer is treated with radiation therapy using radiation to kill cancer cells, chemotherapy using drugs to stop the growth of cancer cells, and/or surgery to remove cancerous tissue.

For more information, read the NCI’s summary on anal cancer, ask a question about anal cancer or join the anal cancer support group on Healia Communities. Additional cancer summaries from NCI are also available on Healia.


_{Photo: Hamed Masoumi, Flickr, Creative Commons}